labour with just gas & air?

[nataliekristin]

my mum thinks I'm mad for thinking I'll be alright with just gas and air! i really don't want an epidural and would prefer to do it using only gas and air, obviously this is just my ideal situation and things can change. I'm a first time mum so I can't imagine what pain I'm in for!!

I just had gas and air with both mine and I'm a wimp but then everyone is different.

I had TENS and gas and air and found my labour just about manageable, and I don't consider myself to have a high pain threshold particularly. I was ok with the TENS until 6cm, then had gas and air until 10cm, I found it really helpful. At 10cm the midwife said to stop using it as it could interfere with pushing. I had a long labour (24 hours) with a baby that was oddly positioned, facing to the side rather than facing to my back, she also had a hand up - but these things weren't obvious until 2nd stage when midwive/doctors decided I needed an assisted delivery with ventouse (aka Kiwi), this part (delivery) wasn't very painful, but I'd had local anesthetic so I'm sure that numbed things.

p.s. I'd been given syntocinon too towards the end to speed up/intensify contractions, it supposedly makes it more painful but I didn't actually notice a difference.

I agree with you. Gas and air can be fine. I used gas and air until cut for forceps delivery and then a second time until I was 8 dilated and walked to the operating theatre for an emergency CS.

I had been told by my sister that it's possible to do, so my expectations were probably different than they might have been in different circumstances.

I found breathing while counting each contraction helped massively. For me, a slow count of 11 worked every time without exception. By the time contractions were at their peak (around number 7), I knew there were just 4 more to go before sudden and complete relief. It really got me through.

Also I was induced, which is suppose to be more painful than natural labour.

Good luck, you'll be fine. But my only other advice is to avoid forceps at all costs! I'm sure many would argue but having recovered from both, I'd always take a CS over forceps.

In my first birth I was open to all pain relief.

The gas and air made me vomit.

I had an epidural which only worked down one side.

This time I'm planning to do it with no pain relief as all. I'm no martyr but the options just don't suit me. I'm a bit scared!

I had just gas and air for my first - 4.1kg baby and nothing at all for my second 3.5kg baby ( he came out too fast!) go for it! Totally doable! Good luck!

I had just gas and air for my first - 4.1kg baby and nothing at all for my second 3.5kg baby ( he came out too fast!) go for it! Totally doable! Good luck!

I'm a horrible wimp and it was a running joke with everyone who knew me whilst I was pregnant that I would be screaming for an epidural at 2cm. I had an open mind and decided to ask for the drugs as and when it became unbearable without. It never did and I managed on just G and A and believe me when I say that I am awful with pain. A genuinely bad patient. No one was more shocked than I was. So just go with the flow is my advice.

I planned to have every pain killer available to me. Both of mine had different ideas and arrived before I could have anything, not even gas and air. DS was born in the street. So as others have said, just keep an open mind.

I had just gas and air and ended up nodding off during labour until the next bastard contraction came along and woke me up. The mw wasn't amused

Def recommend gas and air if you need stitches! I ended up with pethidine for DS1 and Gas and air with Ds2 plus pudendal block for assisted delivery when he got stuck. It meant that I got to avoid epidural which I was keen to do, but I certainly don't think anyone who has one has done less well or anything like that. If it had gone on much longer I would have had one to be honest.

Be open to options and see how you feel as labour progresses. Some women do very well on gas and air, whilst others need and want stronger pain relief.

Gas and air did nothing for me, but probably because I was panicking and about to have an emergency section as labour wasn't progressing well.

I did it with water, tens machine and hypnobirthing for DC1 and nothing at all (though used some of the hypnobirthing techniques) for DC2. First labour was 9 hours, pretty tough, but because exhausting rather than overwhelming pain. Second labour 5 minutes and only 2 of those were painful. It's possible if that's what you want

I'd like to say don't forget about other coping methods too. I do not have a high pain threshold, and had a short but very intense labour, contractions didn't have gradual building to peaks just like other posters said, they were full-on from start to finish, and it actually still hurt between them, although less. I had a TENS which husband controlled (on low with boost button during contractions), but what helped me most was using Juju Sundin's pain management techniques- they're not hippy stuff, but based on physiological responses, where you use your nervous system to distract yourself from one pain with something else- bouncing up and down on my feet while leaning over a sink being sick at first, then when it got more painful, vocalising. I found it completely amazing how using the voice to "be bigger than the pain" really made a difference to me. Not screaming, more like sustained stag roaring/bellowing. Between contractions I lay down on the bed and somehow managed to 'sleep' (i.e. went off somewhere else in my head) until my husband told me the next one would be starting soon. By the time I started to think getting pregnant might not have been a good idea and perhaps I'd need some drugs if I had to do another 12 hours or so (this was 4 hours in from waters breaking), I asked to be checked and was at 9cm = transition.
Good luck, see where you get on your own, but plan to take what you need to at the time.